Welcome to 8th Grade Social Studies! This year, we will focus on American history beginning with the building of our New Nation after the Constitution and ending the school year with Reconstruction. We will examine the political, economic, and social events and issues related to the development of our nation during these time periods. We will be using a variety of rich primary and secondary source material including historical documents, biographies and autobiographies, novels, speeches, letters, and diaries, as well as poetry, songs, and artwork.

~Mr. Nichols & Mrs. Wood~

We can learn from history how past generations thought and acted, how they responded to the demands of their time, and how they solved their problems. We can learn by analogy, not by example, for our circumstances will always be different than theirs were. The main thing history can teach us is that human actions have consequences and that certain choices, once made, cannot be undone. They foreclose the possibility of making other choices and thus they determine future events. ~Gerda Lerner~